Tie Dye Instructions for Spiral Mickey Shirt

[KarlaG4Kids]

I took bowls of 2 different sizes (1 bigger one, 2 smaller ones) from my kitchen cabinets. Laid they down and drew around them on a piece of paper. Cut that out and you have a template. Good luck!

 

[sjlupin]

Beware that once you tie dye you will want to dye everything you can think of to finish up the unsed mixed up dye! LOL I bought a package of Hanes women's undies and tie dyed me some undies!! they turned out great! Socks... hats... towels, sheets. . .

HA! tie dyed undies! I may have to get some ahead of time in case I have extras. That is TOO funny!

Thanks for all the tips; they are very helpful!

Did the instructions tell you to double the turquoise, or did you know to do that on your own???

 

[quiltymom]

just going to plan ahead a bit and order the shirts from Dharma.

Beware that once you tie dye you will want to dye everything you can think of to finish up the unsed mixed up dye! LOL I bought a package of Hanes women's undies and tie dyed me some undies!! they turned out great! Socks... hats... towels, sheets. . .

Woo-hoo! That's a scream!

How about treat bags for Halloween and/or MNSSHP?

 

[dunbarfamily]

Tie dye undies!!! That's great!

Ummm....what is the "basting stitch"? *goes to bury head in embarrassment* I'm pretty uncrafty, although I can knit a mean straight up garter stitch scarf with fringe!

Thanks!

 

[PrincessOliviasMom]

Thanks so much for all the great tips on this board. I made my tie dye sprial mickey shirts and my other spiral mickey head shirts this week and they turned out great ... if I do say so myself.

I'll post pics as soon as my post count is high enough

 

[quiltymom]

Tie dye undies!!! That's great!

Ummm....what is the "basting stitch"? *goes to bury head in embarrassment* I'm pretty uncrafty, although I can knit a mean straight up garter stitch scarf with fringe!

Thanks!

A basting stitch is a large running stitch. I made my stitches about 3/8" in length. You won't want to go smaller than that or else it will be too hard to gather.

Here you go: http://www.sewing.org/files/guidelines/15_105_running_stitch_basting.pdf

Aahhh - the wonders of the internet!

Let me know if you need any more help.

 

[Marshay]

As for template, you can check out previous thread early on b/c someone had provided a Mickey template to use (there were 2 different tie-dye threads so I'm not positive which one it was).

I have a mickey head w/hook that hangs on my wall, so I just took that down to use. I suggest you outline in pencil on the shirt first.

A basting stitch (I admit I didn't know either!) is a simple up and down stitch (think cross-stitch if you ever did that as a kid). You go up through the t-shirt, then move over about 1/4"-1/2" and then go down through the t-shirt, then move over about 1/4"-1/2" and go up through again. Repeat until you have the Mickey head outlined.

Make sure you get the thread/floss (we used dental floss) clearly defined around the edges (where the ears connect to head). I used a tighter (smaller) stitch to outline face from ears.

I ordered t-shirts from Dharma but thought they all ran smaller than normal and that was before I washed them in hot water.

Finally, if you decide to go with the crystal method instead of rainbow, you will not use as much dye since it is not watered down and you are just sprinkling it on.

Keep the pictures coming!

 

[irky416]

Hahaha. I tie-dyed undies too! I had an old white pair and thought I would test it out. I tried putting a Mickey head on them, but they weren't really big enough and it kind of came out looking like a chicken. Oops. I still like them anyway!

 

[Marshay]

Hahaha. I tie-dyed undies too! I had an old white pair and thought I would test it out. I tried putting a Mickey head on them, but they weren't really big enough and it kind of came out looking like a chicken. Oops. I still like them anyway!

For some reason having a chicken on your undies sounds really funny to me!

 

[sjlupin]

7 - rinse shirt under water while removing rubber bands/thread or floss and then wash in washing machine (we had to do twice to get the dye from bleeding)...we also washed it in synthrapol which is supposed to help set the dye and keep it lasting longer...It came with the dye kit we got, so we used it...

Another question ... when you say to wash it in synthrapol, are you washing it with just that in the machine, not regular laundry soap? I have a front loader and I normally put the laundry soap in the appropriate spot in the top, so would I substitute the synthrapol for the soap?

Sorry for all the questions ... I am trying to get all the details down so that I will be ready to go when my supplies come (please Dharma box, come tomorrow ).

 

[dunbarfamily]

Another question: I am going to tie dye a nursing shirt for myself. It has an all around underlayer, and then the top layer. For those of you unfamiliar with it, its kind of like two shirts hooked together. Will I have to do anything special as I'm dyeing it? Anything to keep in mind? Is it even possible?

And, I'm going to do a Onesie for the baby. Again, anything special? Would I die it snapped up or unsnapped?

Thanks so very much!!

 

[Marshay]

Another question ... when you say to wash it in synthrapol, are you washing it with just that in the machine, not regular laundry soap? I have a front loader and I normally put the laundry soap in the appropriate spot in the top, so would I substitute the synthrapol for the soap?

Sorry for all the questions ... I am trying to get all the details down so that I will be ready to go when my supplies come (please Dharma box, come tomorrow ).

Yes, I just used the synthrapol and no laundry solution for the first washing. On the 2nd, I didn't use the synthrapol and used detergent, Clorox 2 and Fabric Softener.

BTW, my Dharma package took about 2 weeks to arrive -- it was the slowest package I ever received...

 

[Marshay]

Another question: I am going to tie dye a nursing shirt for myself. It has an all around underlayer, and then the top layer. For those of you unfamiliar with it, its kind of like two shirts hooked together. Will I have to do anything special as I'm dyeing it? Anything to keep in mind? Is it even possible?

And, I'm going to do a Onesie for the baby. Again, anything special? Would I die it snapped up or unsnapped?

Thanks so very much!!

I wouldn't worry about dying the under layer b/c you can't really see it. It'll pick up the dye anyway and that should be enough. You may find you need to use extra dye if all the dye is absorbed from the underlayer, leaving the top part more white...hmmm, let us know how it goes.

As for the onesie, if you snap it, then your rainbow pattern will look more uniform. If you keep it open, then you may have more variation, depending on how the cloth lies when you rubber band it. Once again, let us know how it worked.

 

[mom2mykids]

Oh, we just started unwrapping of 2nd set of shirts. They look good! I'm rinsing in the sink and then the washer and then I'll do one more rinse, LOL.
The first ones we did DS and I mixed up our shirts, mine was a ladies V neck. So I dies his and he mine, ooops. So I kept better track this time. I also didn't rubber band them quite so tight so more color made it to the center. I'll take pics and try to post sometime Monday.

 

[mouselovr]

Where do I find syntropol? can I get it at Michael's or do I have to order it from Dharma or somewhere like that??

 

[Marshay]

Where do I find syntropol? can I get it at Michael's or do I have to order it from Dharma or somewhere like that??

I got mine at Dharma's...maybe do an internet search to see where it comes up? Wal-mart? Jo-Ann's? AC Moore?

 

[kat3668]

I got mine at AC Moore.. it was $6.00 a bottle I think but then I used this coupon
http://www.acmoore.com/showweeklyspecialcoupon.asp?ID=38
Good Luck!

 

[quiltymom]

Yes, I just used the synthrapol and no laundry solution for the first washing. On the 2nd, I didn't use the synthrapol and used detergent, Clorox 2 and Fabric Softener.

I learned something new! I'll have to get some before I make the next batch.

 

[dunbarfamily]

We did a sample shirt last night for my boy, since it's easy to find white Tshirts in his size. I wanted there to be a white border around the Mickey head. Why did't it happen? I used two tight rubberbands, is that not enoguh? The back of the shirt turned out a little better, but still no white border around the mouse. Also, I noticed the colors seeped a lot under the rubberbands as I was dyeing. Did I use too much dye? Thanks for your help.
Here is the front:

Here's the back, which turned out better, but still not what I hoped for.

Any advice/tips/suggestions would be great. I hope to make the "real" shirts today while children nap.

 

[irky416]

We did a sample shirt last night for my boy, since it's easy to find white Tshirts in his size. I wanted there to be a white border around the Mickey head. Why did't it happen? I used two tight rubberbands, is that not enoguh? The back of the shirt turned out a little better, but still no white border around the mouse. Also, I noticed the colors seeped a lot under the rubberbands as I was dyeing. Did I use too much dye? Thanks for your help.

Any advice/tips/suggestions would be great. I hope to make the "real" shirts today while children nap.

I put about an inch of rubber bands around the Mickey head. It turned out to be a little wider than I wanted, but there was a definite white band around the head. I doubt just two bands would be enough. Maybe that was the problem?